YPF Said to Be Potential Bidder for Petrobras Argentine Assets

Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) -- YPF SA, Argentina’s largest energy
company, will bid for any assets that Petroleo Brasileiro SA
wants to sell in Argentina, a YPF official said today.

Petrobras, as the state-controlled company is known,
announced in June it’s seeking to raise as much as $14.8 billion
through asset sales and restructuring to fund deep-water oil
discoveries in Brazil. The plan includes selling its Argentine
controlled companies, including a 28.5 percent stake in Refinor
SA, Reuters reported Nov. 29.

The YPF official, who can’t be named because of company
policy, said the Buenos Aires-based company would bid given its
importance in the local energy market.

Tarsicio Lima, a Petrobras press official, declined to
comment in a telephone interview from Rio de Janeiro and in an
e-mail. Alejandro Di Lazzaro, a YPF spokesman, declined to
comment in an e-mail.